When the queen of Bhutan, Jetsun Pema, gave birth to her first child in early February, a pediatrician from Japan was part of the delivery team. “I was treated the same way as Bhutanese doctors and allowed to attend Queen Pema’s delivery,” 41-year-old Yoriko ...

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are embarking on what is seen as one of their most ambitious tours to date — taking in the Taj Mahal as well as visiting the Mumbai hotel targeted by gunmen in the 2008 attacks that killed 166 ...

A monkey that sneezes when it rains and a “walking” fish are among more than 200 species discovered in the ecologically fragile eastern Himalayas in recent years, according to the conservation group WWF. WWF has compiled a survey of wildlife discovered by scientists across ...

Nepal’s earthquake should act as a wake-up call to neighboring countries that have failed to learn lessons from their own disasters and where shoddy construction and rapid urbanization could lead to death on an even greater scale next time round, experts say. Given its ...

South Asian leaders signed an agreement to improve cross-border energy trade in the power-starved region, as a summit overshadowed by India and Pakistan’s rivalry ended with little progress toward regional integration. The prime minister of host country Nepal said Thursday the achievements of the ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay have agreed to initiate a policy dialogue between their foreign ministries in a bid to strengthen bilateral relations. “We agreed to launch consultations at the level of our foreign-ministry directors general in order to deepen ...

Bhutan was the world’s last hold-out against television and is regarded by travelers as a Himalayan Shangri-La. But Bhutan’s decision to make itself the poster boy for electric transport is further proof of its willingness to embrace technology as part of its unique Gross ...

The remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has signed a deal with auto giant Nissan to become the ultimate showcase for electric cars, taking advantage of its abundant hydropower. The announcement was made Friday during Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn’s visit to Thimphu, the picturesque capital ...

As an aide to the prime minister of Bhutan, Takao Takahashi helped deepen people’s understanding of the need to manage their money in the rapidly growing South Asian country valuing “gross national happiness.” The 31-year-old, who now works for the World Bank in Washington, ...

For years Bhutan has faced the risk of a natural disaster known as a glacial lake outburst flood, but assistance from Japan is helping to lower that risk, a senior Bhutanese official said in a recent interview. Karma Tsering, director of the Department of ...

Home to meditating monks and Himalayan nomads, the sleepy kingdom of Bhutan has set its sights on becoming an unlikely energy powerhouse thanks to its abundant winding rivers. Hydropower plants have already harnessed the country’s water flows to light up nearly every Bhutanese home, ...

What makes people happy? The global trend toward quantifying happiness certainly got a big boost from Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom that has championed and made a cottage industry out of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). It’s a cool idea, one that ...